This classic French open-faced sandwich is even better with American ingredients. La Quercia, a cured meat house in Iowa, is making world-class smoked hams and Mountain View Farm in Virginia is making Swiss cheese as good as the Swiss. Ask around at your local farmer’s market about who is making great artisan products near you!

Melt the butter in a medium heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and a large pinch of salt and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil the sauce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese until melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and reserve.

Make the Croque Madame: Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium high heat until hot. Crack the eggs into the skillet and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the bottoms of the whites are set, then transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the whites are just cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Place a slice of brioche on each of 4 serving plates, then top each with some of the cheese sauce. Place some prosciutto over the sauce then place an an egg over top. Top with some more cheese sauce and garnish with micro greens. Serve.

Bake the potatoes on baking sheets until tender, about 45 minutes. Let the potatoes cool to warm then peel and slice. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl.

Cook the bacon until golden and crisp, about 8 minutes. Place the bacon on paper towels to drain, reserving the bacon fat. Crumble the bacon when cool.

Whisk together the bacon fat with the scallions, stock, 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons oil, 11/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper, then toss with the potatoes. Add more vinegar, oil, salt and pepper to taste, then serve topped with the crumbled bacon.

Heat the bacon fat in a large heavy skillet over medium high heat until hot. Stir in the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the shallots and cook about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cream, roasted garlic, and thyme leaves along 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the cheeses. Toss the cheese sauce with the macaroni and transfer to a 3-quart baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet over low heat. Stir in the bread crumbs to coat, then sprinkle over top the mac ’n’ cheese. Bake until the bread crumbs are golden and the mac ’n’ cheese is bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, then serve.

Walking through the kitchen garden last week I came across a real problem. The radishes were ready to pull from the dirt, and not just a couple, but all of them, and immediately. It was a problem – a real radish emergency.

I sent out an email to the eager cooks who follow The Farm Cooking School’s events and got a great, last-minute response. This Sunday, we gathered in the garden, pulled the radishes and made ourselves a 4-course summer lunch, starting with this über-refreshing farmy soup.

This couldn’t be easier to make – the whole thing gets whizzed in the blender until it’s smooth, and, that’s it.

If you find yourself with a radish problem, this soup is part of the solution.

Chimichurri sauce is a South American herb and chile sauce, typically used as a topping for grilled steak. This version uses sweet bell peppers in place of the hot chiles and a mix of fresh herbs. It’s perfect for these grilled zucchini, or realy, just about anything!

Brush the zucchini with some of the oil and sprinkle with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Grill the zucchini and the peppers, turning occasionally, until the zucchini is tender and has grill marks and the pepper’s skins are blackened all over, about 15 minutes.

Place the zucchini on a serving platter.

Let the peppers cool to warm, then peel away and discard the skins, stems, and seeds. Open the peppers like a flower, then stack them in a pile. Cut 1/4-inch wide strips and place them into a bowl. Stir in the vinegar, herbs, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir in the remaining oil, then top the zucchini with some of the chimichurri sauce and serve.

Farmer’s Cheese Cheesecake

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Turn the bottom of the cake pan up-side-down (so that the lip of the bottom is on the bottom). Reassemble and generously butter the cake pan.

Place the farmer’s cheese in a large bowl. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in the bowl with the cheese and the whites in a separate bowl. Beat the egg whites with 6 tablespoons of the sugar, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until they hold soft peaks. Stir the cheese and yolks together with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, zest, flour, and a large pinch of salt until combined. Fold in the whites. Pour the batter into the buttered cake pan, smoothing the top.

Bake the cheese cake until it is golden brown, puffed and set around the edges, but still wobbly in the middle, about 1 hour. Cool int he pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and remove the side of the pan. Let the cheesecake cook completely before serving.

Iceberg is the common lettuce for this classic steakhouse salad, but the soft leaves of Boston lettuce and the crunch of the core add even better texture and the extra space between the leaves offers more dressing coverage possibilities.

This recipe aired on The Steakhouse episode of The Farm on Public Television.

I could go on and on about how this simple herb rub adds unbelievable dimension to a simple roast chicken dish elevating it from ho-hum to WOW! But until you taste it, you just won’t understand what I mean. Try these at home. You’ll never roast chicken another way.

In a mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy and a few shades lighter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in 1/2 of the flour mixture on low speed until just combined. Beat in the yogurt until combined, then beat in the remaining 1/2 of the flour mixture until just combined. Spread the batter in the baking pan, smoothing the top. Bake the cake until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.

Cook the bacon with the garlic and chile in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until pale golden, about 6 minutes. Stir in handfuls of the spinach, turning it with tongs and adding more spinach as it wilts. Cook until any liquid the spinach produces is evaporated, about 6 minutes total. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Spread 2 tablespoons of oil on each of 2 baking sheets. Place a pizza dough on each baking sheet, turning it over in the oil. Gently pull and stretch the dough out to the edges of the pans, alternating between the two doughs.

Divide the spinach between the two pizzas, spreading evenly. Dollop the ricotta over the spinach layers of the pizzas and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over the pizzas then bake until the crusts are golden brown and the ricotta is golden in spots, 16 to 24 minutes. Transfer the pizzas top a cutting board, slice and serve.